From Selling His Car for Charity to Advisory Councils: Brian Quinn’s Strategic Approach to Philanthropy

Brian Quinn’s 1991 Ford Crown Victoria had already lived quite a life. She’d puttered through scenes in the 2020 Impractical Jokers movie, earning the affectionate nickname “Grandma Lucia” from fans who watched her ferry the comedy troupe through their hijinks. But in September 2021, Brian Quinn decided the storied sedan could serve a higher purpose than gathering dust in a garage. So he put her up for auction.

When the virtual gavel came down, “Grandma Lucia” sold for $18,000, every penny earmarked for the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, which builds mortgage-free homes for catastrophically injured veterans and pays off mortgages for families of fallen first responders. Throw in a $4,250 Zoom call package Quinn offered to the highest bidder, and the total haul hit $22,250. Not bad for a car whose Kelly Blue Book value probably maxed out at a few hundred bucks.

This transaction illustrates a broader pattern in Brian Quinn’s philanthropic activity. Quinn has concentrated his public philanthropic efforts around first responder support, creating a coherent narrative that links his past profession to his current public platform.

The Friends of Firefighters Advisory Council

Quinn serves on the Advisory Council for Friends of Firefighters, a New York-based organization providing mental health services and wellness programs to active and retired FDNY members. The council includes actor Gary Sinise and actor Steve Buscemi, both of whom have maintained long-term commitments to firefighter support organizations rather than pursuing celebrity charity work across dispersed causes.

Friends of Firefighters operates primarily through providing free counseling services, substance abuse support, and wellness programs targeting the specific occupational stresses firefighters experience. The organization reported serving over 3,000 FDNY members and their families in 2024, with programs addressing PTSD, addiction, and stress-related health issues that disproportionately affect first responders.

“Anytime you see something that’s working and doing great, great work, you kind of want to be involved with that,” Brian Quinn told Staten Island Advance. “I wanted to be part of the community, [and] one of the ways that I was able to accomplish that was working with [Friends of Firefighters]. They kept me looped in, and I’m helping the brothers and sisters out.”

In 2015, Brian Quinn made a donation to FDNY-related charities, a contribution he described as more meaningful to him than any television accolade. The donation’s size positions it as substantial individual philanthropy rather than symbolic celebrity contribution; for context, such gifts are typically listed separately from smaller contributions, indicating organizations view them as significant funding sources rather than routine income.

Quinn’s public discussion of this donation emphasized its connection to his eight years of service with the FDNY before his entertainment career. He described the contribution as repaying the training and community he received during his firefighting years, framing the gift as reciprocal obligation rather than charitable generosity.

“I think when you become a fireman, that’s your identity. That’s who you are,” Quinn told Fox News Digital. “It’s what you do. It’s like a calling or a mission.” This rhetorical framing matters for understanding Quinn’s philanthropic approach. By positioning donations as repayment rather than benevolence, he avoids the self-congratulatory tone that often accompanies celebrity charity work while simultaneously reinforcing his firefighter credentials as central to his public identity.

Tunnel to Towers: Multi-Platform Partnership

Beyond the “Grandma Lucia” vehicle sale, Brian Quinn has maintained an ongoing relationship with the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, participating in multiple fundraising initiatives since 2020. The foundation, established after September 11th to honor firefighter Stephen Siller, focuses on building mortgage-free homes for catastrophically injured veterans and first responders, as well as providing mortgage payoffs for families of fallen first responders.

Quinn’s Tunnel to Towers involvement has included participating in fundraising broadcasts, promoting the organization through his social media platforms (which collectively reach several million followers), and facilitating connections between the foundation and Impractical Jokers audience demographics that might not otherwise encounter first responder charities.

The foundation’s 2023 financial statements showed it provided 1,100 mortgage-free homes and paid off mortgages for 850 Gold Star and fallen first responder families since its founding, with 93% of donations going directly to programs rather than administrative costs. Quinn’s promotional support contributes to the foundation’s ability to maintain high program spending ratios by reducing marketing costs through celebrity platform access.

Strategic Concentration vs. Diffuse Celebrity Charity

The concentrated nature of Brian Quinn’s public philanthropic work distinguishes it from typical celebrity charity patterns. Many performers with comparable platform size maintain involvement with numerous unrelated causes, environmental organizations, children’s hospitals, arts education, and animal welfare, creating broad but shallow charitable portfolios that maximize positive press coverage across multiple demographic segments.

Quinn’s focus on first responder organizations creates a narrower but deeper philanthropic profile. This concentration provides several strategic advantages: it reinforces his professional biography as relevant to his current career, it allows for substantive organizational involvement rather than ceremonial participation, and it creates authentic alignment between his public persona and charitable activities that audiences perceive as genuine rather than calculated.

The approach also insulates against accusations of performative charity common in celebrity philanthropy criticism. Because Quinn’s first responder support connects directly to his pre-fame employment history, audiences interpret his involvement as personally motivated rather than image management.

“You can’t have too much support…you could always use more love,” Quinn told Fox News Digital when discussing firefighter charities. His consistent message emphasizes that while the FDNY takes care of its own, additional support from organizations like Friends of Firefighters remains vital.

Quantifiable Impact and Visibility Balance

Analyzing the measurable impact of Brian Quinn’s philanthropic activities requires distinguishing between direct financial contributions and platform-amplified fundraising. His FDNY donation represents straightforward monetary impact; the “Grandma Lucia” auction generated $22,250 in direct funds; his advisory council work contributes governance expertise rather than quantifiable dollars.

However, Brian Quinn’s larger philanthropic value likely comes through audience mobilization rather than personal wealth transfer. When performers with multi-million follower platforms promote charitable organizations, they provide marketing reach that would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to purchase through traditional advertising. Friends of Firefighters and Tunnel to Towers both reported increased donation volume following Quinn’s promotional activities, though neither organization released specific attribution data.

This dual-track approach combining substantial personal donations with platform-amplified fundraising represents sophisticated celebrity philanthropy. Quinn avoids both the appearance of merely lending his name without financial commitment and the limitation of impact that comes from donations alone without audience mobilization.

Local Versus National Charitable Focus

While Quinn’s major philanthropic partnerships operate nationally, his charitable activity also includes local Staten Island causes that rarely generate press coverage. He has participated in fundraising for Maker Park Radio, a Staten Island community radio station, though specific financial contributions remain unpublicized.

This local-national balance suggests Quinn maintains charitable involvement across visibility scales rather than concentrating solely on organizations that maximize public relations value. Local community support often provides limited media coverage relative to national foundation partnerships, indicating Quinn’s charitable activity extends beyond what generates optimal publicity.

Brian Quinn has been a repeat guest at Big Slick, an annual charity weekend in Kansas City raising funds for Children’s Mercy Hospital. The event has collectively raised over $30 million for pediatric cancer research, with Quinn and his Impractical Jokers colleagues helping draw both laughs and donations across multiple appearances. And Quinn was in good company! Last year’s event brought out Jason Sudeikis, Paul Rudd, Rob Riggle, Eric Stonestreet, and many other celebrities.